Packers at Lions: Highlights, score and recap

Here are the recap, score and highlights from the Green Bay Packers’ Week 17 victory over the Detroit Lions to clinch the NFC North.

After a Week 11 loss to the Washington Redskins dropped his Green Bay Packers to 4-6 on the season, quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he felt like his team could “run the table.”

Six straight wins and another NFC North division title later, it looks like Rodgers and the Packers weren’t kidding around.

With a 31-24 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football, Green Bay secured the No. 4 seed in the NFC Playoffs, prevented their division rival from seizing the division title and made good on Rodgers’ prediction of running the table.

Well, in the regular season, at least.

Finishing the season 10-6, the Packers will face a dangerous New York Giants team in their first round Wild Card matchup. This is the same Giants team that supplied the Dallas Cowboys with two of their three losses on the season.

However, Green Bay has the home field advantage, since the Giants will have to travel to Lambeau Field to try and knock off a red-hot Packers team led by a legitimate MVP candidate.

As for the Lions, the home loss was disappointing, but they’re still playoff-bound as the No. 6 seed. They will travel to Washington to take on the No. 3 Seattle Seahawks in their first round Wild Card game.

The Packers struck first Sunday night, and the Lions would respond throughout the first half. But eventually, Detroit just had no answers for Rodgers, who picked apart the defense for touchdown after touchdown to extend Green Bay’s lead to 31-17 late in the fourth quarter.

The Lions made the score more respectable with a Hail Mary touchdown pass with 13 seconds left, they were unable to recover the onside kick and the Packers ended the game in victory formation.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/815771299121229824

Three Stars

1. Aaron Rodgers: There are plenty of MVP-worthy candidates to choose from this year, including Matt Ryan, Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott, but Aaron Rodgers may have settled the debate Sunday night with 300 yards and four touchdowns, completing 27 of his 39 passes.
2. Davante Adams: Part of the reason Rodgers has been so impressive is his ho-hum receiving core, but even though Davante Adams finished with only six receptions for 51 yards, two of those catches were for touchdowns — including the dagger that put Green Bay up by 14 with less than three minutes left.
3. Matthew Stafford: Rodgers was unstoppable, but Matthew Stafford did his part to keep Detroit in the game for the most part. He finished the game with 347 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, completing 26 of his 41 pass attempts.

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Next Week

The No. 4 Packers will face the No. 5 New York Giants at home for their first round Wild Card matchup. The No. 6 Lions will have to travel to play the No. 3 Seattle Seahawks.